1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to food presses. Particularly, the present invention relates to manually operated food presses for forming patties and the like. More particularly, the present invention relates to food presses for pressing fried green plantains.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many foods require shape manipulation in the preparation process. Some foods are pressed flat and shaped, such as, for example, pizza dough or cookie dough. Other foods, such as ravioli and turnovers, require more skill to form a particular shape with a stuffing pocket. Still other foods are formed into patties, such as hamburger and other ground meats.
Compressible foods are generally easily formable because of their soft consistency. They are also easy to manipulate by hand because they are formed before the cooking process begins.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,057,874 (1977, Walker) discloses a food pattie molding tool. The tool is in the form of a cylinder that has an open bottom. A piston is slidably disposed within the cylinder and has a pushrod projecting upwardly out of the cylinder which is guided for vertical reciprocating movements. A handle is fastened to the top of the pushrod and a resilient means is provided for biasing the handle and the attached piston upwardly. An elastic enclosure diaphragm is secured across the open bottom of the cylinder to yield and deform into engagement with the interior surface of the cylinder and the under surface of the piston when the tool is pressed downwardly on a quantity of food to mold. When the tool is lifted, the diaphragm returns to its original shape to automatically eject the molded pattie.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,165,942 (1992, Wadell) discloses a machine for forming a pizza shell for a dough mass. The machine has a vertically reciprocably pressing head positioned above a base plate. The machine is automatic and has a conveyor belt that serves as a base plate which passes beneath the pizza pressing head. The pizza pressing head is synchronized to descend and press the pizza dough mass into pizza shells. Positioned around the circumference of the pressing head are a plurality of spaced fingers capable of reciprocating vertically and laterally. The lower ends of the fingers are adapted to press against the border of a pizza shell on the base plate to imitate manual fingertip pressure.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,419,245 (1995, Short) discloses a food press apparatus with a biased press plate. The food press apparatus includes a drive component operatively connected to a frame. The drive component moves a plunger which is operatively connected to a press plate that engages one end of the container. A spring, compressible between the plunger and the press plate, biases the press plate against the container end. A platform for engaging another end of the container is positioned in spaced relationship with the press plate to allow introduction of the container therebetween. As the press plate moves toward the container engaging platform, the food product is compressed therebetween to squeeze liquid from the food product.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,644,953 (2003, Kishek) discloses a hamburger patty making system which includes a housing having a central aperture and a channel extending inwardly thereof in communication with the central aperture. A press has a handle portion with a first end which is hingedly coupled with the housing and a second end. The press includes an upper container portion disposed over the central aperture of the housing in a lowered orientation. A lower container portion is removable received within the central aperture and includes a cup portion adapted for being seated within the central aperture. A piston is removably coupled with respect to the lower container portion and includes an upper circular plate. A lever couples with the piston to facilitate raising and lowering thereof with respect to the upper container portion.
Design patents, D245,827 (1977, Korpi) and D369,948 (1996, Tobiasz), disclose ornamental designs for a hamburg patty press that include a recess and plurality of recesses, respectively, in a hinged compressing device.
Some foods, however, are harder and less compressible or require shape manipulation during the cooking process, i.e. while the food is hot. A plantain is an example of such a food. The plantain is a member of the banana family. While closely related to the common banana, the edible fruit of the plantain has more starch than the banana and is not eaten raw. Plantains are starchy when ripe and are often used in tropical regions in place of potatoes and squashes. Because the plantain has a maximum of starch before it ripens, it is usually cooked green. It may also be dried for later use in cooking and ground for use as a meal.
Fried plantains are a staple food eaten in South and Central America, the Carribean, Africa, Spain (especially the Canary Islands, whose main product is the plantain), and by many Latin-American communities throughout the United States. A pressed sliced round of fried green plantain is referred to as a “toston” in Spanish and is typically made by manually pressing the sliced round of a fried green plantain into a patty.
Tostons are prepared by first removing the peel off a green plantain. Next, it is cut into approximately one to one-and-a-half inch thick round sections. The sections are placed in a frying pan containing oil and heated until the outside is slightly crisp. Next, each round is placed into a press and flattened as desired. This is performed for each round/slice. They are then placed back into the fryer until fully cooked. This can be relatively time consuming when done at home.
Historically, the press used to prepare the plantains is called a “tostonera.” One example of a tostonera, for use in the home, is shown in FIG. 1. A tostonera 1 is generally made of wood and has a bottom piece 2 and a top piece 6 joined by a hinge 5. Bottom piece 2 has a circular-shaped recess 3 on a top surface 4 which faces a flat bottom surface 7 of top piece 6. The plantain slice is placed in circular shaped recess 3. Top piece 6 is fabricated such that there is a handle portion 8 protruding forward with which to hold and press top piece 6 down onto bottom piece 2. This device allows the user to press a plantain round into a plantain patty one at a time.
A disadvantage of the “tostonera” is that a great amount of force is required to press the fried green plantain because of the hinge arrangement. In addition, the fried green plantain round pressed at the rear portion of this type of apparatus is typically pressed more than those at the front of the device resulting in an uneven patty. Further, when a batch of plantains, or any food, is being prepared a highly desired characteristic of the batch is that it is evenly and identically cooked. This is difficult to do with a tostonera which presses one item at a time.
A disadvantage that some of the other prior art devices share with the tostonera is that only one item can be pressed at a time which can cause unevenly cooked items in the same batch. Additionally, by only pressing one item at a time the cooking process for a batch of food is relatively long. Another disadvantage of these devices is that the pressing platforms are not removable which makes it more difficult to clean. Still other disadvantages with those devices using a hinge is that the devices place uneven force on different areas of the food and requires great leverage and force to press larger or less compressible pieces of food.
Therefore, what is needed is a food press that provides the ability to press several pieces of edible material at one time. What is further needed is a food press which shortens cooking time. What is still further needed is a press that is easy to clean. What is also needed is a press that will evenly exert force across an entire plate of food. What is still further needed is a press that will exert the force needed to press a variety of food thicknesses and consistencies. What is further needed is a simple, inexpensive food press for making fried plantains for home use.